IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Morlo, M.; Peign‚, S.; Nagel, D. | |
| A new species of _Prosansanosmilus_: implications for the systematic relationship of the family Barbourofelidae new rank (Carnivora, Mammalia) | |
| 2004 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (140): 43-61 | |
A new barbourofelid species, _Prosansanosmilus eggeri_, is described from the Middle Miocene (MN 5) locality of Sandelzhausen, Germany. It differs from all other European barbourofelid species in being smaller and showing a more plesiomorphic morphology, especially in the relatively less developed sabretooth adaptations, low accessory cusps on the premolars, and the remnant of a very small talonid on the carnassial. The species is, however, stratigraphically later than the more apomorphic P. peregrinus, which is known from MN 4 of Germany and France. A phylogenetic analysis based on dental characters of early nimravids, barbourofelids and felids supports previous results on skull morphology of Barbourofelis that Barbourofelinae is not closely related to the Late Eocene and Oligocene Nimravinae. Instead, both subfamilies should be treated as separate families, with the Barbourofelidae closely related to the Felidae. The Barbourofelidae differ from the Felidae as well as from the Nimravidae s.s., particularly in the unique morphology of their basicranium. They presumably originated in Africa; _P. eggeri _sp. nov. is interpreted as part of a Miocene immigration of African faunal elements into Europe that took place at the beginning of MN 5. |
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